Town's First Charter Set For Public Hearing

If Edward F. Turn Sr. were to meet David Rhinelander or Steve Fish by chance, and decide to have lunch, they might find themselves in violation of the state's open government law.

Because a meeting of any two of them would represent a quorum of Andover's three-member board of selectmen, Turn, Rhinelander and Fish are prohibited from discussing town-related business together without formally announcing it to the public through a newspaper advertisement and holding a public meeting.

``Even if we aren't talking about town business, we want to avoid the appearance of anything improper,'' Turn said.

That is one of the quirks of small-town politics to be addressed in the town's first charter.

A draft of that charter, drawn up by a special commission, will go before a public hearing Wednesday at the old firehouse.

Most towns regularly review their charter to see whether they have outgrown its provisions. For example, Marlborough town officials are also considering changing the makeup of the town's board of selectman from three to five members to increase community participation.

But it's a little different in Andover, because for its 150 years, the town never had a charter. The town has always operated under the state's general statutes and was never able to change any aspects of its government.

In addition to increasing the number of elected selectman to five, the proposed Andover charter would also lengthen the term of service from two years to four years.

The selectmen would be able to approve minor ordinances and approve new roads without having to take them to a town meeting for approval. All other major legislative changes would continue to go to a town meeting, however.

The charter would change the way the town sends representatives to the board of the Region 8 school district. In the past, they have been chosen at town meeting; under the new provisions, they would be voted on in May along with other town officials.

Among other changes: Board members who miss more than six consecutive meetings without a known excuse, such as a trip or an illness, will be deemed to have resigned.

Officials in Andover and Marlborough say that they began looking at changing their charter when they realized that the growth of their towns had greatly increased the amount of work for their governments.

``It would be nice to have more selectman so that each one isn't juggling responsibility for so many different committees and projects,'' said Marlborough First Selectman Howard Dean.

The three-member board has also become a liability. Gene Sammartino, an Andover resident and developer, has filed a complaint against Turn and the town with the state Freedom of Information commission. Sammartino claimed that Turn had met with the other selectmen in private to discuss purchasing a building for a new town hall that Sammartino occupies.

Turn said he spoke to Rhinelander to decide whether to call a special meeting on the matter and decided against it. In a town with a larger board, such a phone conversation wouldn't even be an issue.

But three-member boards are still the most popular form in the state, according to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Of the 103 municipalities that have boards of selectmen and town meetings, 79 of them have only three selectman. Most such towns are fairly small, like Andover, with 2,800 residents and Marlborough, with 5,700. But some towns, like North Haven and Guilford, have more than 20,000 residents and only three selectmen.

In changing their charter, Andover did attempt to retain some small-town ways, as a reminder of its humble beginnings: Tie votes at an election would be resolved by a coin toss.